Batswana are going digital

Publishing Date : 15 August, 2017

Author : AUBREY LUTE

Subscriptions for fixed telephone are on the decline; posted parcels are also decreasing; and newspaper sales are also on a downward spiral. On the other hand, mobile cellular telephone subscriptions are increasing and internet subscriptions are rising.

Information & Communications Technology Statistics Report 2015 released this month and covers statistics for the year 2015 relating to Telecommunication, Print Media, Broadcasting (radio and television) and Postal Services reveals that the Botswana population especially in urban areas is embracing Information and Communication Technology. The latest report contains series from 2005 to 2015 – which is the latest period covered by Statistics Botswana’s unit of Information & Communications Technology.

According to the report subscriptions for fixed telephone lines decreased by 5.2 percent, from 169,236 in 2014 to 160,490 in 2015. Tele - density (the number of fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants) has been almost constant since 2002; it decreased from 8 lines per 100 persons in 2014 to 7 lines per 100 persons in 2015.

However, unlike fixed telephone lines. Mobile cellular telephone subscriptions increased in 2015. They rose from 3,410,507 in 2014 to 3,475,327 in 2015, registering a growth of 1.9 percent. This increase resulted from the rise in pre-paid mobile cellular telephone subscriptions which constituted 97.7 percent of total mobile cellular telephone subscriptions in 2015. Pre-paid mobile cellular telephone subscriptions numbered 3,395,758 while post-paid mobile cellular telephone subscriptions were 79,569. Mobi-density (the number of mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants) remained constant in 2015, states the report.

The Statistics Botswana 2015 report published this month shares that telephone traffic is recorded as Domestic calls, International calls and Short Message Service (SMS). It records that during the fourth quarter of 2015, there were 2,067,470,773 fixed telephone to fixed telephone domestic calls recorded as compared to 424,793,378 during the same period in 2014. “This presents higher traffic as compared to the fixed telephone to mobile cellular phones for domestic calls. The traffic from fixed telephone to mobile cellular telephones also grew by 2.4 percent from 390,589,346 recorded during the fourth quarter of 2014 to 399,920,925 over the same period in 2015,” reads the report.

The ICT report also shares developments in relation to On net mobile cellular traffic which declined by 2.4 percent from 538,595,573 recorded in the last quarter of 2014 as compared to 525,492,538 observed in 2015 last quarter. It states that 538,595,573 On net mobile cellular telephone calls were recorded during the last quarter of 2014 as compared to 178,652,457 of Off net mobile cellular telephone of the same period, showing a decline of 66.8 percent. On net mobile cellular telephone calls amounted to 525,492,538 during the last quarter of 2015 against 176,298,042 Off net cellular telephone calls recorded in the same period in 2015. This presents a decline of 66.5 percent.

“International calls traffic of Outgoing from fixed telephones increased by 38.5 percent from 671,227,267 during the fourth quarter of 2014 to 929,767,092 recorded over the same period in 2015. On the outer hand, outgoing calls from mobile cellular telephones decreased by 9.2 percent from 16,990,114 recorded during the last quarter of 2014 to 15,426,446 over the same period in 2015.” The Statistics Botswana report further indicates that the traffic for SMS shows a decline of 7.5 % from 226,930,504 during the last quarter of 2014 to 209,840,809 recorded in the last quarter of 2015 within the On net SMS. Meanwhile the Off Net SMS increased by 8.0 % from 146, 297,194 recorded in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 157,962,098 over the same period in 2015.

Internet Subscriptions

According to the report, internet subscriptions rose by 39.2 percent during the period under review, from 2,524,013 subscriptions in 2014 to 3,512,172 in 2015. This increase resulted from the growth of both mobile internet subscriptions (from 2,496,146 subscriptions in 2014 to 3,475,327 in 2015) and fixed internet subscriptions (from 27,867 in 2014 to 36,845 in 2015). Statistics Botswana further assessed the quarters of 2015 with respect to internet subscriptions, Q1 2015 experienced the highest increase while the other quarters experienced marginal growth. In addition Q1 2015 observed an increase of 36.3 percent in internet subscriptions from Q4 2014 while Q2, Q3 and Q4 2015 registered 0.3 percent, 0.7 percent and 1.0 percent respectively.

“Internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants increased from 117 subscriptions in 2014 to 160 subscriptions in 2015. This growth resulted from the growth of mobile cellular telephones subscriptions per 100 inhabitants of 161 subscriptions in 2015 from 115 subscriptions in 2014,” reads the report.

Mail volume trends

According to the Statistics Botswana ICT report the international mail received increased by 51.2 percent in 2015 while international mail dispatched increased by 23.1 percent. Domestic mail also experienced an increase in 2015 and it registered a growth of 40.3 percent. The report further states that total posted parcels decreased by 1.3 percent in 2015, from 18,571 total parcels dispatched in 2014 to 18,815 parcels in 2015. Foreign received parcels decreased by 56.3 percent in 2015; they reduced from 7,202 parcels in 2014 to 3,148 parcels in 2015.

“Registered items posted decreased by 25.1 percent in 2015, from 319,920 items recorded in 2014 to 400,217 items recorded in 2015. Foreign registered items increased in 2014 by 25.1 percent from 19,230 items in 2014 to 24,057 in 2015. Both dispatched and received EMS items decreased in 2015. Foreign dispatched express mail items decreased by 35 percent while foreign received EMS items decreased by 6.1 percent compared to the previous year,” reads the report. Letter/cards dispatched and received increased by 2.3 percent in 2015, from 8,170,944 items recorded in 2014 to 8,361,903 items in 2015. Printed matter increased by 248 percent in 2015, it recorded 1,547,888 items in 2014 and 5,387,135 items in 2015. On the other hand small packets increased by 23.5 percent in 2015, from 42,860 items recorded in 2014 to 52,930 items in 2015.

Private newspaper net sales

The observation the Statistics Botswana ICT Unit is that there have been fluctuations in net sales of private newspapers from 2006 to 2015. It indicates that the net sales had reached a maximum of P51.5 million in 2010 and a minimum of P4.3 million in 2007. The report says sales started to decrease in 2011 until they reached P26 million in 2015.